The result to Dorothy of this conversation was a greater kindness than ever on the part of Molly’s people; who now seemed to take her into their hearts as if she were of kin to them. She often found them looking at her searchingly, trying to trace that “likeness” which one of them had discovered. But no word of what was in their minds was said to her. She was merely invited to call Mrs. Hungerford “Aunt” as she was to call the Judge “Uncle.”
So despite the dullness of the fog, which prevented her seeing much of the ocean, the day passed very well. When she was asked if she could play and to give her new friends a little music, she took the violin from its shelf and gave them her simple best. To please them who were so kind to her was a delight to herself and her readiness to oblige was instantly construed by Aunt Lucretia as a fresh proof of her “discovery.”
“Only a well-born child has that easy grace of manner, Schuyler, as you must often have observed,” she remarked with pleased conviction.
To which he replied by warning:
“Take care you don’t build up a romance that will fall to pieces like a house of cards at the first breath of reality. But as to birth, be it high or low, Dorothy is a most winning little maid and I’m thankful to have her along with us on our holiday. Thankful, also, that impulsive Molly chose just such an unselfish, ingenuous girl for her ‘chum.’ My poor little lass! Her first ocean voyage will be a dreary memory for her!”
“Oh! not so bad. She’s perfectly comfortable when she lies still. She has plenty of attention and sleeps a deal. She’s not losing much fun out here in this weather and will be no more glad to step onto solid land again than I shall. Except that, but for this enforced close companionship with little Dorothy I might not have thought out her story as I have.”
“There you go again! Well, the suggestion haunts me, too. I’ll investigate promptly; and—what I shall do after that I haven’t yet decided. I hate a meddler and am not anxious to become one. Heigho! No matter how hard a tired man tries to mind his own business he can’t do it! Here comes that young Melvin Cook, and he’s a lad with a pedigree, let me tell you, as long as any oldest Marylander of all. He and I have a bit of business to discuss, so I’ll walk the deck with him awhile. Dorothy, I suppose, will sleep in her own stateroom to-night, since Miss Greatorex is comfortable. Good night, and sleep well.”
The deserted deck and the quiet gloom were a forcible contrast to the radiance and hilarity of the evening before, so that Mrs. Hungerford did not linger long after the Judge had left her, to pace up and down in earnest conversation with the “Bashful Bugler.” Yet her thought was now upon the lad and his name which her brother had mentioned.
“Cook! Cook, from Yarmouth. Why, that’s the same as that quaint old fellow brother took into his private office. He came from Nova Scotia, too, and called himself a typical Bluenose. Feared he was liable to consumption and left home for our milder climate. Wonder if he is a relative of the blond bugler! After all, as Molly so often exclaims, ‘what a little bit o’ world it is! Everybody you know turning up everywhere you go!’ Quite a keen observer is my flighty little niece, in spite of all her nonsense; and bless her heart! I must go and see how she is and send small nurse Dorothy to her own slumbers.”
So she too walked forward, and was seen no more till the grating sounds and the shouted orders told that the good ship “Prince” was docked and her goodly company had reached that safe “haven where they would be.”